Flat projection television

ABSTRACT

A flat projection television comprising an imagine engine mounted adjacent a top of an enclosure and optically coupled to a collimator mirror, a flat mirror, a mirror assembly comprising a plurality of cylindrical mirrors, and a diffuser screen. The image engine includes a cylindrical lens which expands an outgoing image horizontally. The image engine projects the image downward from the top of the enclosure toward the bottom of the enclosure where the horizontally expanding image encounters the collimator mirror which collimates the expanding beam bringing the horizontal lines back into parallel with one another. The collimator mirror also reflects the collimated image towards the front of the enclosure where it encounters the flat mirror oriented to deflect the image upward into the mirror box location of the enclosure at an appropriate angle. As the image is projected from the flat mirror, it encounters the cylindrical mirrors of the mirror assembly which expand each horizontal line of the image to present a fully expanded and complete image on the diffuser screen.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of copending application Ser. No.11/346,074 filed Feb. 1, 2006, which is incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD

The present invention relates generally to projection television sets,and more particularly to a flat or thin projection televisionconfiguration.

BACKGROUND

Projection television sets were a popular alternative to picture tubetelevision sets, as they provided relatively large viewable screens thatcould not be efficiently produced using conventional picture tubes.Projection television sets typically include an enclosure with anoptical unit, a mirror, and electronic components for receiving andprojecting an image onto a screen assembly mounted on the front of theenclosure, and tend to have a relatively deep or thick enclosure. Forconsumers desirous of thin or relatively flat television sets with largeviewable screens, plasma and LCD televisions have become a popularalternative to projection television sets.

In order to make a thin or relatively flat projection television set,the image must be properly folded and projected on to the screen in arelatively shallow box. The proper folding of the optics in a box orenclosure having a thickness or depth on the order of conventionalplasma television sets has proven to be difficult.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a projection configurationthat can be employed in a relatively thin or shallow enclosure of aprojection television set.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure is directed to an improved image projectionconfiguration for a projection television set that facilitates theproper folding of optics within a shallow enclosure. In a preferredembodiment, a flat projection television set comprises a relativelyshallow enclosure enclosing an imagine engine optically coupled to firstand second mirrors, a mirror assembly comprising a plurality of mirrors,and a screen. The image engine is preferably mounted toward the centerrear of the top of the enclosure and is situated so as to project itsimage downward from the top of the enclosure toward the bottom of theenclosure. The image engine preferably includes a cylindrical(anamorphic) lens which horizontally expands the outgoing image acrossthe width of the screen. At the bottom of the enclosure the horizontallyexpanding image encounters the first mirror, which is preferably acollector/collimator mirror having a Fresnel lens adapted to collimatethe horizontally expanding image and return the expanding image tocoherency by bringing the horizontal lines back into parallel with oneanother. The first mirror or collimator mirror also reflects the imagetowards the front of the enclosure. Near the front of the enclosure, thecollimated image or beam encounters the second mirror, which ispreferably flat and situated to deflect the image upward into the mirrorbox location of the enclosure. The collimated image leaving the flatmirror has a line width sufficient for a full screen image but not theheight. However, as the collimated image is deflected from the flatmirror it encounters the mirror assembly which expands each horizontalline of the collimated image vertically relative to the screen topresent a fully expanded and complete image on the diffuser screen. Theplurality of mirrors of the mirror assembly are preferably cylindrical.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom consideration of the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a projection television set showing an imageprojection assembly within an enclosure.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the projection television set showing thecomponents of an projection assembly.

FIG. 3 is a detail view of a collimated mirror taken along line 3 inFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a cylindrical mirror assembly.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of the cylindrical mirror assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Each of the additional features and teachings disclosed below can beutilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachingsto provide an improved image projection configuration for a flatprojection television set that facilitates the proper folding of opticswithin a shallow enclosure. Representative examples of the presentinvention, which examples utilize many of these additional features andteachings both separately and in combination, will now be described infurther detail with reference to the attached drawings. This detaileddescription is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the artfurther details for practicing preferred aspects of the presentteachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.Therefore, combinations of features and steps disclosed in the followingdetail description may not be necessary to practice the invention in thebroadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describerepresentative examples of the present teachings.

Moreover, the various features of the representative examples and thedependent claims may be combined in ways that are not specifically andexplicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodimentsof the present teachings. In addition, it is expressly noted that allfeatures disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended tobe disclosed separately and independently from each other for thepurpose of original disclosure, as well as for the purpose ofrestricting the claimed subject matter independent of the compositionsof the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. It is alsoexpressly noted that all value ranges or indications of groups ofentities disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediateentity for the purpose of original disclosure, as well as for thepurpose of restricting the claimed subject matter.

Turning to FIGS. 1 and 2, a preferred embodiment of a projectiontelevision set is provided. As depicted, the projection television setincludes an enclosure 10 preferably having a relatively shallow depth.Included within the enclosure is an imagine engine 11 optically coupledto first 14, second 17 and third 20 mirrors and a diffuser screen 13.The image engine 11 can be a DMD, DLP or the like and preferablyincludes a cylindrical (anamorphic) lens 12 coupled thereto. The imageengine 11 is preferably mounted toward the center rear of the top of theenclosure 10 and is situated so as to project its image 16 downward fromthe top of the enclosure toward the bottom of the enclosure 10. As theoutgoing image 16 passes through the cylindrical lens 12, it expandsthrough the horizontal expansion zone 15 across the width W of thescreen 13 and enclosure 10.

The first 14 and second 17 mirrors a preferably situated at the bottomof the enclosure 10. The first mirror 14 is preferably acollector/collimator mirror having a Fresnel lens adapted to collimatethe horizontally expanding image 16 and return the expanding image 16 tocoherency by bringing the horizontal lines back into parallel with oneanother (as depicted in FIG. 3). The collimator mirror 14, which ispreferably constructed using conventional Fresnel lens technology, ispreferably situated symmetrically about the horizontal centerline of thescreen 13, as shown in FIG. 1. As depicted in detail in FIG. 3, thecollimator faces F of the collimator mirror 14 are preferably set at anangle A preferably defined as

A=(ARC TAN(X/Y))/2  (1.0)

where Y is the distance from the focal point FP of the image engine 11to the collimator mirror 14 and X is the distance from the horizontalcenter line of the screen 13 to detail or collimator face area of thecollimator mirror 14. The length L of each collimator face F along thehorizontal axis of the mirror 14 is preferably defined as

L=W/1000  (2.0)

where W is the width of the screen 13. As one skilled in the art wouldunderstand, the denominator affects the horizontal detail clarity. Thecollimator mirror 14 is also preferably set at an angle θ to reflect theimage 16 towards the second mirror 17 and the front of the enclosure 10.

The second mirror 17, which is preferably flat, is preferably situatednear the bottom and front of the enclosure 10. The flat mirror 17 isalso preferably set at an angle Φ to deflect the image 16 upward intothe mirror box 18 of the enclosure 10 at an appropriate angle ε to thethird mirror 20, as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 4.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the third mirror or mirror assembly 20, asdepicted, preferably includes a plurality of cylindrical mirrors 22extending horizontally across a base 21. Preferably, the mirror assembly20 is formed as a unitary piece of plastic with a silver aluminumcoating. The mirrors 22 preferably have arcuate faces 23 with a radiusR. As depicted, the center 24 _(n) of the arc of the first mirror 22_(n) is preferably situated 7R from the top of the rear edge 25 of thethird mirror 22 _(n+2). The relationship between an appropriate angel ofincidence ε the image 16 is projected along from the flat mirror 17 tothe mirrors 22 and the radius R of the arcuate face 23 is preferablydefined as follows:

ε=ARC SIN(d/D)  (3.0)

β/2=ARC TAN((D−d)(2*N*T))  (4.0)

R=d/(2*N*SIN(45−ε/2)/SIN(β/4))  (5.0)

where

-   -   D—is the height of the screen image,    -   d—is the height of the projected image,    -   T—is the distance between the screen 13 and the mirror assembly        20, and    -   N—is the number of mirrors.        As an example, where d=25, D=750, T=50 and N=1000, ε=1.91024°,        R=9.9201 mm and h=0.050 mm.

In operation, the image engine 11 projects its image 16 downward fromthe top of the enclosure 10 toward the bottom of the enclosure 10. Asthe outgoing image 16 passes through the cylindrical lens 12, thecylindrical lens 12 preferably expands the outgoing image 16 through thehorizontal expansion zone 15 and across the width of the screen 13. Atthe bottom of the enclosure 10 the horizontally expanding image 16encounters the collimator mirror 14 which collimates the expanding beam16 and returns the expanding image 16 to coherency by bringing thehorizontal lines back into parallel with one another. The collimatormirror 14 also reflects the image 16 towards the front of the enclosure10 where the collimated beam 16 encounters the flat mirror 17. The flatmirror 17 deflects the image 16 upward into the mirror box location 18of the enclosure 10 at an angle ε to the mirror 20. The collimated image16 leaving the flat mirror 17 has the necessary line width required fora full screen image but not the height. As the image 16 is projectedfrom the flat mirror 17 it encounters the arcuate faces 23 of thecylindrical mirrors 22 which expand each horizontal line of the image 16to present a fully expanded and complete image on the diffuser screen13.

The particular examples set forth herein are instructional and shouldnot be interpreted as limitations on the applications to which those ofordinary skill are able to apply this device. Modifications and otheruses are available to those skilled in the art which are encompassedwithin the spirit of the invention as defined by the scope of thefollowing claims.

1. A projection television set comprising: an enclosure, an image enginepositioned within the enclosure and adapted to project an image in afirst direction within the enclosure, a first mirror optically coupledto the image engine and adapted to collimate the image projected fromthe image engine and direct the image in a second direction within theenclosure, a second mirror optically coupled to the first mirror andadapted to direct the image in a third direction, a screen coupled tothe enclosure, a mirror assembly optically coupled to the second mirrorand the screen and comprising a plurality of mirrors adapted to deflectand expand the projected image toward the screen, wherein each of theplurality of mirrors includes an arcuate face.
 2. The projectiontelevision set of claim 1 wherein the image engine is horizontallycentered relative to the width of the screen.
 3. The projectiontelevision set of claim 1 wherein the image engine includes a lens thatis adapted to horizontally expand relative to the width of the screenthe image projected from the image engine.
 4. The projection televisionset of claim 1 wherein the first mirror includes a Fresnel lens.
 5. Theprojection television set of claim 4 wherein the first mirror isoriented at a first angle relative to a horizontal axis.
 6. Theprojection television set of claim 5 wherein the second mirror isoriented at a second angle to the horizontal axis.
 7. The projectiontelevision set of claim 1 wherein the second mirror is a flat mirror. 8.The projection television set of claim 1 wherein the screen is adiffuser screen.
 9. The projection television set of claim 1 whereineach of the plurality of mirrors has a radius R and is oriented relativeto the second mirror such the image deflected by the second mirror isincident on the mirror at an angle ε, wherein the mirror radius R andangle of incidence ε relate to one another according toR=d/(2*N*SIN(45−ε/2)/SIN(β/4)),ε=ARC SIN(d/D), andβ/2=ARC TAN((D−d)(2*N*T)) wherein D is the height of the screen image, dis the height of the projected image, T is the distance between thescreen and the mirror assembly, and N is the number of mirrors on themirror assembly.
 10. A method for projecting an image on to a screen ofa projection television, comprising the steps of projecting an image ina first direction, expanding the image in a second direction,collimating the expanding image, deflecting the collimated image in athird direction, deflecting the collimated image in a fourth direction,and deflecting the collimated image off a plurality of arcuate facedmirrors toward a screen, wherein deflecting the collimated image off aplurality of arcuate faced mirrors toward a screen causing expansion ofthe collimated image vertically along the screen, wherein each of theplurality of arcuate faced mirrors having a radius R, wherein the mirrorradius R and angle of incidence ε relate to one another according toR=d/(2*N*SIN(45−ε/2)/SIN(β/4)),ε=ARC SIN(d/D), andβ/2=ARC TAN((D−d)(2*N*T)) where in D is the height of the screen image,d is the height of the projected image, T is the distance between thescreen and the plurality of arcuate faced mirrors, and N is the numberof mirrors.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of horizontallyexpanding the image includes directing the image through a cylindricallens.
 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of collimating thehorizontally expanding image includes directing the image through aFresnel lens.